About the presentation of the initial draft Code of Conduct to achieve a world free of terrorism

New York,
January 19, 2018 – On January 18 a Special high-level event was held
at the UN headquarter devoted to the presentation of the initial draft Code of
Conduct to achieve a world free of terrorism, initiated by the President
Nursultan Nazarbayev. The document was officially launched by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov.

The event aroused great interest in
the UN. Delegations from more than 100 member states of the UN took part in the presentation
of the draft and its discussion. Among the high-level participants were the
deputy Prime Minister – the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah
Al-Khalid Al-Sabah and the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan
Hekmat Karzai. The reports were delivered by the Under-Secretary-General of the
United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office Vladimir Voronkov and the UN Assistant
Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenča.

The Head of the Kazakh foreign
ministry Kairat Abdrakhmanov, while opening the meeting, highlighted the
significance of goals and main content of the work on the Code initiated by
Kazakhstan as a contribution to countering international terrorism. The major
goals of the document are the creation of a broad international coalition of
partner countries on counter-terrorism and the achievement of a world free of
terrorism by the 100th anniversary of the UN in 2045.

V.Voronkov highly appreciated the
efforts of Kazakhstan which brought its unique experiences in ensuring security
and sustainable development. He particularly noted the work and role of Astana
in the UN Security Council, especially the successful presidency of this main
global body in international security and leadership of three sanctions
committees related to the fight against terrorist structures. According to a
high-ranking UN diplomat, counter-terrorism is one of the top priorities of the
Secretary-General's reform proposals. He hopes that the implementation of the
Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (UNGCTS) will ensure better concurrence,
capacity building and reliable partnership.

In this context V.Voronkov welcomed
the adoption of the Joint Action Plan (JPoA) for the implementation of the
Global UN Counter Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia and Kazakhstan's
contribution as a donor. He also highly appreciated the initiative of Astana to
prepare the Code of Conduct which will be further developed during the following
biennial review of the UNGCTS implementation and the meeting of heads of
counter-terrorism structures of member states, which will be held by the UN in
late June 2018.

Miroslav Jenča in his
report noted that the goals of Kazakhstan and the UN on counter-terrorism
coincide, and wished success to Astana in its endeavor. Having shared the
experience of adopting the JPoA in 2011 when he headed the Regional Center for
preventive diplomacy in Central Asia, he praised the plan as a model for other
parts of the world. At the same time, the relationship between long-running
conflicts, violent extremism and terrorism was stressed, as well as the need to
regularly update comprehensive measures in order to prevent armed conflicts in
the modern world, including through the use of preventive diplomacy.

The deputy Foreign Minister of
Afghanistan highly estimated the draft Code of Conduct as an important step
toward strengthening international cooperation and the counter-terrorism
architecture of the UN. He was particularly impressed by some especially
important points of the document, such as non-provision of territory for
committing terrorist acts, zero tolerance for terrorism, a comprehensive
approach, containment of terrorism. Mr. Karzai stressed that the Code of
Conduct deserves collective support of the international community and
expressed hope for further transparent discussions on the text of the document.

The delegations of the Security
Council member states who spoke at the meeting actively supported the
initiative of Kazakhstan and expressed their readiness to continue the
substantive discussion of the draft for the purpose of further development and
reconciliation with the appearance of a comprehensive document that is to
become an important basis for strengthening international cooperation in
countering terrorism.